Слике страница
PDF
ePub

A Page from McKinley's Illustrated Topics for American History, No. U 19

[blocks in formation]

VIEWS TO ILLUSTRATE THE CHARACTER OF EARLY WESTERN SETTLEMENTS.

No. 1. Boonesborough, Ky., in 1775, the first fort erected in Kentucky, and the first permanent settlement in the State. Note the stockade connecting the outer walls of the houses; the windows and doors all face the interior of the enclosure.

No. 2. Astoria, in 1811, embodying the same principles of construction as seen in the Boonesborough picture.

No. 3. Fort Frye, Ohio, in 1792. This old engraving gives an excellent idea of the construction of the block-house with its overhanging story. One of these is placed at each angle of the triangular stockade.

[graphic]

Copyright, 1912, McKinley Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

Be Sure to Inspect Free Samples of

McKinley's Illustrated Topics

for Ancient and American History

These topics comprise a comprehensive notebook system, including a
durable, low-priced cover with patent rings; and loose leaf pages con-
taining analysis, references for topical reading, source studies, outline
maps and a very valuable collection of historical pictures. Teachers who
have adopted the topics state that their use has organized the class work,
has enlivened the study of history and awakened a deeper interest on
the part of students.

Any teacher who has not inspected sample copies of these topics should write at once to the publishers

MCKINLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

Published monthly, except July and August, by McKinley Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Copyright, 1917, McKinley Publishing Co. Entered as second-class matter, Oct. 26, 1909, at Post-office at Phila., Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879

ATHENAU

Theodore Roosevelt endorses

Breasted's Ancient Times

In The Outlook for Feb. 14, 1917, Mr. Roosevelt writes in an article entitled, The Dawn and Sunrise of History:

"B

UT one of our own men, the distinguished Orientalist and Egyptologist, Professor James Henry Breasted, of the University of Chicago, has now produced the best book of its kind that has ever been written on the subject. His 'Ancient Times: A History of the Early World,' is written with the avowed purpose to be simple enough for use in high schools; but, perhaps for that very reason - inasmuch as the very best book for intelligent and well-grown boys is usually an uncommonly good book for grown-up men and women - his work is absorbingly interesting for every one who, without being an original student, is yet able to appreciate the tremendous drama of the ages which Mr. Breasted unfolds before our eyes."

[blocks in formation]

DESIDERATA

Neither scholarship, simplicity, nor interest can, by itself, make an ideal history text-book. The great success of

Morey's Ancient Peoples

is due to its rare combination of these three desiderata.

SOME OF ITS TEACHING HELPS:

1. Concise summaries are given at the beginning of each chapter.

2. Each paragraph treats one phase of the subject which is described by a title.

3. The relationship between previous matter, and each new subject is clearly shown.

4. Important events and documents are outlined in tabular form.

5. Clear, progressive maps illustrate the expansion of the countries studied.

634 pages profusely illustrated.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

London

New York

San Francisco

Cincinnati Chicago Boston Atlanta

[blocks in formation]

Volume VIII. Number 3.

PHILADELPHIA, MARCH, 1917.

A Visit to Babylon

BY PROFESSOR A. T. OLMSTEAD, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI,

Let us imagine ourselves visitors to Babylon, perchance Greek mercenaries come to offer our services to Nebuchadnezzar. We have left behind us the rolling prairie and have come down into the flat mud plains. At last, there appears on the horizon a long wavering line of palms, marking the course of the Euphrates. Then we behold, rising against the sky, a long low ridge which we identify as the circuit wall of the city. Leaving to our right the huge fortress at the northern projection of the walls, we come closer and observe that the circuit wall really consists of two, with towers bristling across each and with a space between so wide that four-horsed chariots may drive along the top and thus troops may be rushed. with the greatest ease from one spot to another along the whole circuit of eleven or twelve miles. In front lies a deep fosse filled with water, while the outer face is of the very best quality of burnt brick. We come to a broad gateway and pass through its double doors of cedar wood overlaid with copper. Amazement seizes us when we realize how massive the wall is, ninety feet in all, but our wonder is a little lessened when we note that the inner wall is but mud brick and when we are told that this alone was the circuit wall before the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Passing through gardens and villas, now being crowded out by the new houses, the rapidly increasing population demands, we reach the inner city wall, again double, but this time with both frankly of mud brick. Our guide informs us that here we have the age famous walls of the old city, called respectively Imgur Bel," Bel has been gracious," and Nimitti Bel, "My foundation is Bel."

We cross a canal and enter the main residential portion of the city. The streets do not wind, as we are accustomed to see them at home, but run straight ahead, forming square blocks of houses. Some of the streets are paved and our guide remarks with pride that some are also drained. After the blazing heat of the open country, the narrow streets of houses crowded closely together furnish a welcome shade. We would gladly see some bazaars from which we might buy and the dull monotony of the dead walls does not even furnish a window. There is one break, a curious vertical stepping back in a constantly receding line on the mud brick fronts of many of the houses. Our guide tells us that this is due to the fact that the squares are not quite square after all, that the houses set due north while the streets run somewhat to the south of west. Fortunately, we are not to be kept in a vermin-haunted inn, we are to reside

$2.00 a year. 20 cents a copy.

in the house of a merchant not far from the line of the great procession street. We enter the vestibule, avoiding the entrance to the right, which leads to the more private apartments, and pass through the porter's lodge to wait in the next until the master of the house has been informed of our arrival. After some delay, due to the fact that he is taking his afternoon siesta, we are led across a good sized court with the servants' rooms to one side, and enter a large room, almost fifty feet long, which is shut off from the noise of the street by rooms on all sides and is cut off from even the heat of the courtyard, leaving but a small opening. With its cool looking walls, washed with white gypsum mortar, it is indeed a most comfortable place. Our duty done, we bathe, eat, and climb the wooden stairway to sleep on the flat roof.

The next morning we arise early, to visit the sights in the cool of the day. First we are taken to Emah, the temple of the goddess, Nin mah. It is our first Babylonian place of worship, and we examine it with interest. It is built entirely of crude brick, for the ever religious Babylonians do not dare neglect the unwritten law which says that no new fangled processes must be used. The temple is therefore merely a great block with few ornaments. Here and there the dead walls, covered with white plaster, are broken by vertical groovings and towers with stepped battlements project on either side of the gate. Passing the altar of crude brick at the entrance, and the double leaves shod with bronze and set in stone sockets, we note how the door was shut on the inside with a huge beam. In the court, we see the cult well, metal vases set in depressions in the pavement, caskets for offerings each side of the door. Here we take our stand and gaze through the room to a second where, on a low pedestal set in a shallow niche, is the statue of Nin mah, over life size, standing with her hands folded below her breast, her only adornment her necklaces, her anklets, and her well dressed hair, while her full face indicates the beauty which the oriental demands. Under the pedestal, so we are told, is a casket with the image of Papsukal, the messenger of the gods, a gold staff in his tiny hands. As we gaze about, the walls are in general white, but behind the statue and over the entrances we find squares of black asphalt with white borders, standing out with barbaric distinctness in the gloom.

To the west of the temple, we come upon the procession street, named Aibur shabu, along which Marduk is wont to go in procession on New Year's Day. It is a broad pathway of large white limestone flags,

« ПретходнаНастави »